Report reveals reasons your child is doing poorly in class

[PHOTO: WILBERFORCE OKWIRI]

Your child could be performing poorly in class because they are with younger or older learners, an international education meeting heard yesterday.

It emerged that different ages of children to schools, irregular class attendance, class repetitions, large classes and poor learning conditions affect your child’s performance.

Delegates attending the African Union and Unesco funded conference in Nairobi heard that poor teacher training and preparation and improper budgeting by various African governments also add to the list of reasons children perform poorly in schools.

Listed factors

A candid presentation by the World Bank revealed that an early grade ‘traffic jam’ is created in learning institutions across Africa based on the listed factors.

The details are contained in a report dubbed ‘Facing Forward: Schooling for learning in Africa’.

Dr Sajitha Bashir, the World Bank education sector manager of Eastern and Southern Africa made the presentation.

Education Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed, Permanent Secretary Belio Kipsang, Sarah Anyang Agbor, the Africa Union Commissioner for human resources, science and technology were present.

Dr Amina noted that up to 500,000 students will be enrolled in middle level colleges by end of this year.

The CS listed curriculum implementation and reforms in basic and higher education as some of the key government achievements.

Delegates, however, heard that large class sizes, having lessons outside or under makeshift sheds, provision of few learning materials and deployment of teachers not familiar with language and numeracy skills slow down learning.

Overall, the report finds that most African countries have lagged behind in attaining the simple benchmarks of basic education learning.

According to the report on early grade learning, by end of Grade Two, children should be able to correctly read 45-60 words per minute.

And by end of Grade Four, children should be able to read a simple passage (not seen before) and answer a few comprehension questions.

“Disadvantaged children entering Grade One tend to have far lower (oral) vocabulary than children from higher socio-economic status, so schools need to provide greater support to bring them up to reading proficiency benchmarks,” reads the report.